Mucormycosis: A potential head and neck problem in COVID-19 patients

Abstract

Mucormycosis is a rare fatal fungal infection that affects the nose and paranasal sinuses and may even extend to the orbit and the brain. The rhino-orbital-cerebral mucormycosis (ROCM) is the commonest form of Mucorales infection. The infection is usually transmitted by inhalation and causes tissue necrosis by angioinvasion and thrombosis.1 The disease has a rapid course causing ischemia and gangrene of the affected tissue, and it mainly affects immunocompromised patients.2 Before the pandemic of coronavirus disease 2019 (COVID-19), diagnosis of the disease was limited to individuals with low immunity such as patients with uncontrolled diabetes, end-stage renal diseases, hematologic malignancies, and/or organ transplantation. After the COVID-19 outbreak, many case reports of COVID-19-associated mucormycosis (CAM) have been published